On Friday we got in our car and drove from Basel to Paris. We loved that there were no signs on the French highways except for the artistic posters announcing each town, but in that visually decluttered environment it was hard for us to figure out where to pull off for food. We ended up making a long detour that seemed to take us to the middle of nowhere but dropped us off across the highway from a fast food and gas center. Abe and Mary walked across the bridge and picked up some food for us, and then we continued on to the airport to return our rental car.
After dropping off our car we taxied to Paris to our hotel, which I had booked in a more central location than last time. We dropped off our stuff and headed out to the Luxembourg Gardens which were relatively close.
It was really hot so we got the kids ice cream and water. 
At the gardens. 
The kids spent an hour playing with boats. 
Lydia’s boat kept getting stuck in the middle of the fountain. 
Here are a bunch of videos about the mini-sailboat fun everyone had:
Lydia’s boat got stuck a couple of times….
https://youtube.com/shorts/mVliHy_0nPs
Afterward the kids played in a playground and I eavesdropped on the Italian tourists behind me. One of the reasons I love Europe is because I get to practice different languages at the same time. I would love, love, love to spend enough time there to finally get fluent in at least one of them someday.
Then we walked to dinner. We ate crepes just as good as the ones in Brittany, although I think St. Malo restaurants have better ambience. At least they are more shady and less crowded than Paris (and I happened to sweat a lot less there).
Veggie crepe.
Then we walked home and went to bed. Our hotel could only put three people in a room at a time so we split up for the night.